Sen. Mark Kolterman

District 24

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As most of you know, one of the unique characteristics of the Nebraska Legislature is that every bill introduced by a senator receives a public hearing. On Thursday, February 27th, we concluded committee hearings for the 482 legislative bills and 16 legislative resolutions introduced this year. The legislature began full day debate on bills on Tuesday, March 3rd. With 27 days remaining in this short legislative session, we still have a lot of important legislation to tackle, including rebalancing the two-year biennial budget.

We have also reached the deadline for designating priority bills. As many of you know, the Rules of the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature allow each senator to designate one bill each year as their priority bill. Senators may prioritize a bill they introduced or legislation introduced by another Member or Committee. In addition to individual Senator priority bills, each standing Committee may prioritize two bills that it advances. The Speaker of the Legislature is permitted to prioritize 25 bills.

Prioritized bills that have been advanced out of a committee will be heard by the Legislature before the bills that have not been prioritized. During this short 60-day session, it is unlikely that a bill advanced out of a committee will make it to floor debate without being prioritized. With 49 Senator priority bills, 31 Committee priority bills, and 25 Speaker Priority Bills, we are looking at the possibility of 105 total prioritized bills. Since we have already debated a handful of prioritized bills, the remaining bills will be debated over the course of the next 27 legislative days.

One of the bills that has received a speaker priority is a bill I introduced, LB 760 which would require health carriers to provide coverage for asynchronous review by a dermatologist by way of telehealth. LB 760 ensures that Nebraskans, regardless of where they live, have the ability to access quality healthcare via telemedicine by a dermatologist, if the service is provided by asynchronous review, otherwise known as store-and-forward.

For example, if you were a patient in Gothenburg, and you visit your family physician who notices a suspicious area of skin on your forehead, that physician can take a photo and submit it to a dermatologist whose specialized knowledge allows them to assess, diagnose and treat the suspicious area. What was found, however, is that if the photo is sent to a dermatologist who is not participating in the live conversation, that service is not being covered by all insurers.

LB 760 advanced from the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee on February 11 on a vote of 7 ayes and 1 nay. While there was one dissenting voice in advancing the bill from Committee, as technology expands access to quality care, it is vital that payment systems keep up in a changing world. With a growing trend in skin cancer occurrences in this state, it is imperative that we ensure Nebraskans, no matter where they live, the ability to access quality healthcare via telemedicine, even if the consulting dermatologist is not able to attend the live visit.

As always, if we can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My door is open and I have made it a goal to be accessible to the constituents of our district. Please stop by any time. My e-mail address is mkolterman@leg.ne.gov, and the office phone number is 402-471-2756. Tyler and Katie are always available to assist you with your needs. If I am not immediately available, please do not hesitate to work with them to address any issues that you may need assistance. Please continue to follow me on Facebook at Kolterman for Legislature and on Twitter at @KoltermanforLegislature.